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He chuckled, grinning wildly at the burst of happiness in his soul.
You know it.
The computer dinged again – quickly!
Just call me…
Max knew he was fighting a losing battle within himself, because he desperately wanted to call her already – and if his precious kitten wanted to talk for a moment longer?
Who was he to say ‘no’?
Super quick call – because I want to hear your voice, but I’m going to want to hear it again, too.
Clicking send, Max loaded the calling card onto the phone, and Elana picked up on the first ring.
“I love you…” he blurted out and heard her tearful laugh of joy.
“I think I love you too,” she whispered shyly. “I can’t stop thinking about you, us, all of this, Max.”
“I’ll take it,” he breathed thickly, so grateful for this chance. “And seriously, just because we go, it doesn’t mean that we have to…”
“Be patient with me – but let’s see where it leads us, and maybe we’ll just let it happen if we take our time or… well, you know. I mean, it happens, and I don’t like telling you ‘no’ all the time.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes – but I might require the lights to be off,” she chuckled nervously. “I still get scared deep down inside. I need to be able to take care of my own mental well-being too.”
“Would you feel better blindfolding me? I’m all about using my hands,” he joked and was rewarded with a laugh that shot a spark straight up his spine in awareness. Oh man, his wife was so incredibly sexy when she was happy and felt loved. “Now that laugh could make me sell a kidney on the black market, woman… that’s a dangerous one because I would do anything to hear it again.”
“I love you,” she breathed.
“I love you too – and I can’t wait to say it to your face… but I was serious about next weekend. Love ya, Kitten… bye,” he rushed and heard her laugh again as she quipped ‘bye’ quickly in return.
Max sat back in his chair, unable to wipe the smile off of his face – utterly amazed. Elana said she loved him… loved him! They were going to take a honeymoon, going someplace romantic where he could woo his pretty girl and grow closer to her. The idea that he’d found ‘The One’ in the middle of a grocery store had not slipped past him. He’d talked a lot of smack to the other guys over the last few years, but if he was honest with himself, it was because he was jealous.
He wanted someone to love him – just like anyone else – and felt lost at how to go about it. His brother hardly dated when they were growing up, his father had cheated on Reese’s mother with his mother, so there was already a basis for what ‘dysfunctional’ looked like. His mom had died, then his father years later, and he simply didn’t know how to be the right person for someone – until Elana.
It turns out that Max was the right person but hadn’t found the right woman yet. Elana wasn’t trying to change him or mold him into someone else. She was confident enough to tell him what was on her mind despite her misgivings and her past. He cherished her enough to be a better version of himself. Was he still a dummy when it came to a relationship – oh yes! – but it made his girl laugh, and that was all that mattered to him.
Elana loved him.
Getting up from the desk, he quickly printed her email with the dates and walked down the hallway toward the offices where he knew the vacation calendar was posted. It was one of those big laminated calendars that was about three feet wide and five feet long, covering a big chunk of the exposed wall. You would think they would have something a bit more robust than something so old-fashioned, but Reilly had insisted he wanted the ‘visual’ calendar to see who was going to be gone – and surprisingly, Reaper kept it for now.
His boss looked up as Max briefly knocked on the door frame – and pointed at the calendar, not wanting to disturb him. He stood there, looking at the squares, the names scribbled in places, and smiled. The 15th was going to work perfectly.
“Are you going back to Texas?”
“Nope,” Max said, scribbling his name on several squares. “Honeymoon,” he tossed over his shoulder and paused as he suddenly saw a small insignificant square to the far right, about six months from now, that had a single name written on it.
Reaper.
Max slowly turned and looked at him, pointing at the date and lifted an eyebrow. Reaper gave him the same look, smirking, and then held up a finger in front of his mouth.
“Sophie is due the week after.”
“Congratulations, brother.”
“Thank you – and please don’t say anything to anyone yet. I don’t think I can take more pestering regarding who is going to take over. I just want it to be an easy transition, you know?”
